THE AD: Pepsi Zero Sugar’s Super Bowl ad, “The Choice,” gives Coca-Cola’s iconic polar bear the Pepsi Challenge, letting a CGI bear have a blind taste test between Pepsi and Coke’s zero-sugar options.
After the bear chooses Pepsi, it has an existential crisis, wandering the streets, visiting a therapist who looks a lot like the ad’s director, Taika Waititi, and ultimately accepting that Pepsi’s taste is preferable to Coke’s.
MY HOT TAKE: Is Pepsi creating a potentially $10 million ad for Coca-Cola by hijacking its bear? After all, the Coca-Cola mascot is one of the most recognizable symbols in marketing. And with viral parodies already making fun of Pepsi’s ad, is the cola’s Super Bowl swing a fail?
I say bear with it.
The Super Bowl isn’t about making something forgettable. It’s about taking big swings, and in this case, big swigs of Pepsi Zero Sugar while telling all your problems to Taika Waititi. Even if you think Pepsi has made an expensive ad for Coke, you’re talking about it. You’re thinking about it. And Pepsi is ultimately getting the attention.
Pepsi marketing vp Gustavo Reyna told ADWEEK that the ad showcases Pepsi’s “challenger DNA” as the company takes on Coca-Cola. And that tells me, Pepsi has guts-really healthy guts thanks to its push for low-calorie colas lately.
I like an ad that goes for it. I like CGI bears, and I like Taika Waititi. I even liked Waititi’s film Thor: Love and Thunder, which is pretty universally panned, so maybe I’m biased. But whatever you think about the Pepsi ad, whether you like it or not, it’s making everyone take paws.
Watch Pepsi Zero Sugar’s Super Bowl 60 ad, “The Choice,” below.